Australian Health Thesaurus

The Australian Health Thesaurus (Thesaurus), managed by Healthdirect Australia, is a standardised vocabulary and classification system designed to organise health-related information. It focuses on the Australian health environment.

The Thesaurus is used by Healthdirect Australia as a comprehensive resource for indexing, categorising, and retrieving health information from a range of areas of healthcare. It promotes interoperability, clarity and consistency in communication within the healthcare sector.

The Thesaurus facilitates classification and navigation of health concepts, supporting improved information management, retrieval and exchange, and is designed to improve the healthcare outcomes of individuals and communities in Australia.

Healthdirect targets health information for consumers. This focus means the Thesaurus should not be considered as a complete clinical terminology. Concepts are usually referred to by their common names, and some terms are conflated for ease of understanding or presentation. The information in the Thesaurus is useful as a point of reference but should be verified with other sources. The information is not definitive and might change or be updated over time.

Thesaurus structure

The Thesaurus has a hierarchical structure. Concept schemes relate to:

• diseases and disorders;
• symptoms;
• treatments;
• chemicals and drugs; and
• anatomy, among others.

Users may explore a concept to discover its various attributes, including synonyms (Alternative Labels) and relationships, such as Broader concepts, Narrower concepts, and Related concepts.

Thesaurus maintenance

A read-only version of the Thesaurus is available online (Opens in new tab) and is regularly updated. The last modified date is displayed in the description on the Thesaurus' home page.

SPARQL endpoint

This data is managed using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) used by semantic web technologies. Users could therefore also query the data in a SPARQL endpoint.

View the SPARQL endpoint (Opens in new tab)

Thesaurus usage

Government departments and health organisations may be eligible to license the Australian Health Thesaurus for use on Australian health websites.

If you have any questions or suggestions about the Thesaurus, please contact the Healthdirect Information Management team at feedback@healthdirect.org.au.

Disclaimer

The information contained in, or accessed through the Australian Health Thesaurus is for general information and use only. It is not intended to be used as medical advice, but rather as a guide to assist in making decisions about health. Please see our Terms of Use for more information.